Podcasts about Prototype Festival

“My hope is not to divide, but to bring people together. Because only when we know about the history, then we can see our present and can learn [from] mistakes and to do better.” So says composer and conductor Huang Ruo on his vision for Angel Island. This bonus is Charlton's full conversation with Huang Ruo recorded in a friend's apartment in New York, during the 2024 Next Wave Festival, co-presented by Brooklyn Academy of Music and Prototype Festival. Follow the evolution of our collaboration from the first time we met, through the dark times of the COVID pandemic, all the way to New York.  Learn more about Huang Ruo's work at HuangRuo.com, including the world premiere of his new opera, The Monkey King, written with David Henry Hwang at San Francisco Opera in November 2025.  Also Mentioned in this Bonus A Dust In Time, written by Huang Ruo & performed by Del Sol Quartet Connect with Del Sol Quartet DelSolQuartet.com Del Sol Quartet on Spotify Facebook Instagram YouTube This episode is a bonus from the "Angel Island" season of Sounds Current. If you haven't already, we encourage you to go back to "Part 1: A Haunting History" and listen to the full 4-part story. Sounds Current is produced and edited by The Creative Impostor Studios and hosted by Charlton Lee.    

Positive Vibration Nation ran at the HERE Arts Center as a production of the Prototype Festival in January 2025. Follow The Present Stage on Instagram at @thepresentstageThe Present Stage: Conversations with Theater Writers is hosted by Dan Rubins, a theater critic for Slant Magazine. You can also find Dan's reviews on Cast Album Reviews and in The New Yorker's Briefly Noted column.The Present Stage supports the national nonprofit Hear Your Song. If you'd like to learn more about Hear Your Song and how to support empowering youth with serious illnesses to make their voices heard though songwriting, please visit www.hearyoursong.org

How do we learn from the past to change the future? This bonus is an excerpt of Charlton's interview with Matthew Ozawa, stage director for the New York premiere of Angel Island at BAM produced by Beth Morrison Productions. In this clip, Matthew shares how his first experience on Angel Island and personal family history inspired the staging of the Prototype Festival staging. And Charlton describes how this project has shifted his own relationship to the energy of the Immigration Station detention barracks. As Matthew says, “This is now gonna exist for all times, for so many generations and people to experience, to think about, to learn about their history in a way that pre this piece, probably people didn't even know about... And this is why we make art.” Matthew has some exciting productions on the horizon for 2025 including Puccini's Madama Butterfly with Pittsburgh Opera in March and with Utah Opera in May. You can follow Matthew's work at matthewozawa.com. Connect with Del Sol Quartet DelSolQuartet.com Del Sol Quartet on Spotify Facebook Instagram YouTube This episode is a bonus from the "Angel Island" season of Sounds Current. If you haven't already, we encourage you to go back to "Part 1: A Haunting History" and listen to the full 4-part story. Sounds Current is produced and edited by The Creative Impostor Studios and hosted by Charlton Lee.    

In this episode, Hayley and Amy talk with arts administrator and producer Skye Cone Ivey about values-first producing, making space for people who have been excluded, advocating for mental health and women's health, and more. Click here for a transcript of the episode! Episode Notes Hosts: Hayley Goldenberg and Amy AndrewsGuest: Skye Cone IveyMusic: Chloe Geller Episode Resources: National Alliance for Musical Theatre Hot Girls Write Musicals More Than Enough by Elaine Welteroth  Period Power: Harness Your Hormones and Get Your Cycle Working For You by Maisie Hill Her Mood Mentor National Alliance on Mental Illness Support Groups Guest Bio: Skye Cone Ivey (she/ella) is a Latina, feminist and changemaker based in NYC. She is the New Works Associate and a Festival Producer for the Annual Festival of New Musicals at the National Alliance for Musical Theatre. Skye is originally from St. Petersburg, Florida and has been living in NYC since receiving a BFA in Stage Management from the University of Cincinnati College - Conservatory of Music (CCM). Selected regional stage management credits include: Cincinnati Opera, Florida Grand Opera, Theatre Now New York and the Prototype Festival. Skye also works as a wedding planner and a mental health advocate with the National Alliance on Mental Illness. Find Skye Online: Instagram Thanks for listening! Who do you want to hear from next on the Women & Theatre Podcast? Nominate someone here. The Women & Theatre Podcast is created and produced by Hayley Goldenberg and Amy Andrews. Please like, comment, subscribe, follow us on Instagram and Facebook, and consider making a donation to support our work. Thank you for listening!

"Once Was Gleaming" The California-born Tanner Porter is a composer, arranger, performer, vocalist and songwriter. Her voice is otherwordly and wonderful, and set against her complex orchestral arrangements, it evokes everyone from Kate Bush to Tori Amos. Her debut album The Summer Sinks was a stone cold stunner and her new album Once Was Gleaming picks up where Summer left off, offering a stirring and moving song-cycle that's filled with breathtaking musical finesse, and almost cinematic compositional scope. Tanner's orchestral music has been commissioned by the Louisville Orchestra, Albany Symphony Orchestra, the New York Youth Symphony, and Nu Deco Ensemble, among others. She's collaborated on ballets that were premiered by the Boston Ballet and the San Francisco Ballet, had short operas commisioned by Barnard College and Columbia University's New Opera Workshop and she's been busy on Broadway in ILLINOISE, with music by Sufjan Stevens as a vocal/guitar understudy for two roles. Tanner has been a composer-in-residence with the Louisville Orchestra's 2023-2024 Creators Corps, a fellow of the Aspen Music Festival,and her works have been presented at Carnegie Hall, the New World Symphony's New World Center, and the Prototype Festival. She was a 2019 recipient of the American Academy of Arts and Letters Charles Ives Scholarship. Tanner holds degrees in composition from the University of Michigan and the Yale School of Music. Once Was Gleaming is as sweeping as it is dramatic, punctuated by strings and electronica and a voice that soars through it all with inexplicable beauty. It's revelatory work. www.tannerporter.com (http://www.tannerporter.com) www.bombshellradio.com www.stereoembersmagazine.com (http://www.stereoembersmagazine.com) www.alexgreenbooks.com Email: editor@stereoembersmagazine.com (mailto:editor@stereoembersmagazine.com) Twitter: @emberseditor IG: @emberspodcast

The word “departure” generally refers to the physical act of leaving a place. However, departure also indicates a deviation from one's traditional course of action or way of thinking.  As we close out this season of Sounds Current, Charlton and esteemed collaborators reflect on their experiences related to the development and subsequent productions of Angel Island. How have the music, the conversations, and their experiences on Angel Island shaped their understanding of the current immigration debate in the US and beyond? How has being a part of the project affected their personal narratives and understanding of family history? And what does the future hold for this project as a whole?  And how is the audience receiving the piece? For the first time in this series, we hear immediate reactions.. Part 4 Features: Matthew Ozawa, Stage Director, New York premiere of Angel Island Andi Wong, Teaching Artist and Arts Advocate Genny Lim, Poet, Playwright, Performer, and Pioneer Casey Dexter-Lee, State Park Interpreter II for Angel Island Susan Moffat, Principal, Future Histories Studio Huang Ruo, Composer, Angel Island Ben Kreith, Del Sol Quartet violinist Kathryn Bates, Del Sol Quartet cellist Hyeyung Sol Yoon, Del Sol Quartet violinist Sidney Chen, Singer, Volti San Francisco Ed Tepporn, Executive Director, Angel Island Immigration Station Foundation And numerous audience members from the Next Wave Festival, co-presented by Brooklyn Academy of Music and Prototype Festival, Produced by Beth Morrison Projects in association with Brooklyn Academy of Music.   Featured Music Provided By: Meilina Tsui Byron Au Yong Theresa Wong Timo Chen Taylor Ho Bynum Erika Oba Juri Seo   Order Huang Ruo's A Dust in Time here, listen in Spotify or your favorite music streaming service. The Angel Island Immigration Station Foundation invites you to Immigrant Voices, a growing archive of personal stories of Pacific Coast immigrants. Explore here.   LEARN MORE: https://www.delsolquartet.com/podcast Del Sol Quartet on Spotify Facebook Instagram YouTube   CREDITS: Hosted by Charlton Lee Produced by Andrea Klunder, The Creative Impostor Studios, Charlton Lee, Kathryn Bates, Hyeyung Sol Yoon, Ben Kreith Story Editor: Andrea Klunder Sound Design: Andrea Klunder Technical Director & Post Production Audio: Edwin R. Ruiz Field Producer & Recording Engineer: Kathryn Bates Field Producer: Verena Lee Podcast Manager: Alex Riegler Show Notes: Lisa Widder Cover Art: Felicia Lee Theme Music: Charlton Lee Executive Producers: Andrea Fellows Fineberg, Don Fineberg Featured music from The Angel Island Oratorio composed by Huang Ruo. Performed by Del Sol Quartet & United States Air Force Band's Singing Sergeants / National Museum of Asian Art, Smithsonian Institution, recording and edited by Suraya Mohamed.  

When music journalist Myles Clarkson visits ailing piano virtuoso Duncan Ely at his palatial California home, ostensibly to interview the man, Duncan notices something distinct about Myles:  his hands – they're beautiful, the bone structure perfect for a concert pianist.  Myles, it turns out, is a Juilliard-trained musician whose career tanked after receiving some bad reviews.  Taking an interest in Myles, Duncan introduces him to his artist daughter Roxanne. Soon Myles has entered the pianist's inner circle, much to the chagrin of Myles' wife, Paula, who feels more than a tinge of jealousy at the attention being paid to her husband.  But things are about to take a turn for the uncanny.  Roxanne casts a plaster life mask of Myles, and with Duncan on his way out, Myles donates blood to help him.  While Myles is asleep, something happens, and when he awakes, he's changed.  It's almost as if he's someone else. His urge to live, to love, to play music, is revived, leaving Paula to wonder:  just what, or who, is inhabiting the body of the man she loves? Intro, Debate Society, Hot for Teacher (spoiler-free): 00:00-28:50Honor Roll and Detention (spoiler-heavy): 28:51-1:02:54Superlatives (spoiler-heavier): 1:02:55-1:22:19 Director Paul WendkosScreenplay Ben Maddow, based on the novel by Fred Mustard StewartFeaturing Alan Alda, Jacqueline Bisset, Bradford Dillman, Pamelyn Ferdin, Curt Jurgens, Barbara Parkins, Kathleen Widdoes, William Windom David Cote is a playwright, opera librettist, and critic based in New York. His operas include Lucidity – which will be produced by On Site Opera in New York and Seattle Opera in fall 2024, Blind Injustice, which premiered at Cincinnati Opera and will be presented at Peak Performances at Montclair State University February 16 & 18. Other operas include Three Way at Nashville Opera and BAM; The Scarlet Ibis for the Prototype Festival; and 600 Square Feet with Cleveland Opera Theater. His plays include The Müch, Saint Joe, and Otherland. David wrote lyrics for Nkeiru Okoye's Black Lives Matter monodrama, Invitation to a Die-In and the dating-app song cycles In Real Life, composed by Robert Paterson. David's TV and theater coverage appears in The A.V. Club, Observer, 4 Columns, and American Theatre. He was the longest serving theater editor and chief drama critic of Time Out New York. He's also the author of popular companion books about the Broadway hits Moulin Rouge! The Musical, Spring Awakening, Jersey Boys, and Wicked. Our theme music is by Sir Cubworth, with embellishments by Edward Elgar.  Music from The Mephisto Waltz by Jerry Goldsmith. For more information on this film (including why the Professor chose it, on ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Our Blog⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠), the pod, essays from your hosts, and other assorted bric-a-brac, visit our website, ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠scareupod.com⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠. Please subscribe to this podcast via Apple or Google Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you get your podcasts. If you like what you hear, please leave us a 5-star rating. Join our ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Facebook⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ group. Follow us on ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Instagram⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠.

Follow The Present Stage on Instagram at @thepresentstageThe Present Stage: Conversations with Theater Writers is hosted by Dan Rubins, a theater critic for Slant Magazine. You can also find Dan's reviews on Cast Album Reviews  and in The New Yorker's Briefly Noted column.Terce: A Practical Breviary is running at the Prototype Festival through February 4th at The Space at Irondale. Terce: A Practical Breviary is a production by HERE. Find out more at www.prototypefestival.org.The Present Stage supports the national nonprofit Hear Your Song. If you'd like to learn more about Hear Your Song and how to support empowering youth with serious illnesses to make their voices heard though songwriting, please visit www.hearyoursong.org Follow The Present Stage on Instagram at @thepresentstageThe Present Stage: Conversations with Theater Writers is hosted by Dan Rubins, a theater critic for Slant Magazine. You can also find Dan's reviews on Cast Album Reviews and in The New Yorker's Briefly Noted column.The Present Stage supports the national nonprofit Hear Your Song. If you'd like to learn more about Hear Your Song and how to support empowering youth with serious illnesses to make their voices heard though songwriting, please visit www.hearyoursong.org

“Being text-focused has been really beneficial and a change from the way I've seen concerts programmed in the past: ‘Do the keys align? What is the soundscape?' Those things are important, but for these concerts, the message that we're putting out there has to be priority. We are choral musicians, and we have words and stories to share, and those have to take precedent.”Dr. Alexander Lloyd Blake works as a conductor, composer/arranger, vocal contractor, singer, and music activist. Blake is the Founding Artistic Director of Tonality, an award-winning choral ensemble focused on spreading a message of unity, peace, and social justice through a culturally diverse choral setting. He also serves as Principal Associate Conductor of the National Children's Chorus.As an arranger, Blake's “Wade in the Water” was a featured arrangement at the 2013 North Carolina Music Educators Association convention and is published with Santa Barbara Music Publishing. His choral arrangements are published by Alliance Music Publishing and Walton Music Publishing. Other musical activities include an opera conducting premiere at the 2019 Prototype Festival in New York City, preparing choirs for live performances with UCLA Center for the Art of Performance, and vocally arranging for a nationally televised performance during the 2022 MLB All-Star Game.Recent film and TV credits include singing on the soundtrack of Jordan Peele's “Us,” Disney's “Lion King,” and Pixar's “Spies in Disguise,” and leading sessions for Warner Bros "Space Jam: A New Legacy" and Netflix film "Escape from Spiderhead." Blake also worked as the choral contractor and vocal arranger for Andy Grammer's performance at the 2019 ARDYs (Radio Disney Awards). Blake recently prepared singers for the 2020 Grammy Awards and performed at the 92nd Academy Awards.Blake completed the Doctorate in Musical Arts degree at the University of Southern California in 2019, the Master of Music degree at the University of California Los Angeles in 2014, and the Bachelor of Arts degree (cum laude) in Vocal Performance at Wake Forest University in 2010.To get in touch with Alex, you can find him on Instagram: @alexanderlblake. To learn more about Tonality, look for @ourtonality on Instagram or Facebook.Choir Fam wants to hear from you! Check out the Minisode Intro Part 2 episode from May 22, 2023, to hear how to share your story with us.Email choirfampodcast@gmail.com to contact our hosts.Podcast music from Podcast.coPhoto in episode artwork by Trace Hudson

Fuchs, Jörn-Florianwww.deutschlandfunk.de, Kultur heuteDirekter Link zur Audiodatei

Opera is one of the greatest and the most classic art forms. It combines the ingenuity of a great storyline and the elegance of music in one captivating show. As this classic art form continue to become a favorite among enthusiasts, new operas are giving audiences a fresh perspective to shows that feature newly-composed music and storylines that haven't been heard yet. In this episode, Kanma Gupta discusses the process of developing new operas and more! Kamna Gupta is an American Prize-winning conductor experienced in operatic, orchestral, and choral repertoires. In the 2022-23 season, Ms. Gupta will make her Canadian debut with Vancouver Opera conducting Les Pêcheurs de Perles, and will conduct the East Coast premiere of In Our Daughter's Eyes (Du Yun / McQuilken and featuring Nathan Gunn) at Prototype Festival, which received its world premiere under her baton at LA Opera Redcat. In 2022, she made her debut with the International Contemporary Ensemble, and she returned to The Glimmerglass Festival to conduct the world premiere of Jungle Book (Sankaram / O'Rourke). She will also conduct the highly interdisciplinary work The Ritual of Breath is the Right to Resist (Berger / Reily / Francis), premiering at the Hopkins Center for the Arts at Dartmouth. She is also excited to return to Mannes Opera in Fall 2022 to conduct La Calisto, Cavalli's Baroque masterpiece.

Conductor Lidiya Yankovskaya joins me and speaks about her experience preparing for, conducting, and navigating a career thriving between concert halls and opera pits.Russian-American conductor Lidiya Yankovskaya is a fiercely committed advocate for Russianmasterpieces, operatic rarities, and contemporary works on the leading edge of classical music. She has conducted more than 40 world premieres, including 16 operas, and her strength as a visionary collaborator has guided new perspectives on staged and symphonic repertoire from Carmen and Queen of Spades to Price and Prokofiev. Yankovskaya has recently made major debuts with Chicago Symphony Orchestra and Dallas Symphony, and conducted the symphony orchestras of Omaha, Pasadena, and Fort Worth. As Music Director of Chicago Opera Theater, she has led the Chicago premieres of Jake Heggie's Moby-Dick, Rachmaninov's Aleko, Joby Talbot's Everest, Tchaikovsky's Iolanta, and Adamo's Becoming Santa Claus. Elsewhere, she has recently conducted Carmen at Houston Grand Opera, Don Giovanni at Seattle Opera, Pia de' Tolomei at Spoleto Festival USA, Il barbiere di Siviglia at Wolf Trap Opera, Ellen West at New York's Prototype Festival, and the world premiere of Taking Up Serpents at Washington National Opera.

Ricky Ian Gordon is without a doubt one of our greatest living composers for the human voice. His songs have been performed and recorded by many star singers (including Renée Fleming and Audra McDonald); his musical theater works and operas have been heard on progressive stages across the country, and he's been consistently recognized for his unique musical style – which blends a lyric romanticism with dramatic modernism to brightly illuminate the texts and poems that inspire him. In his new opera Ellen West, Ricky sets the poem of that name by Pulitzer Prize-winning poet Frank Bidart to effect a stunning portrayal of the woman who was the earliest documented case of anorexia nervosa (and who eventually committed suicide). The opera deals with loss and the devastating consequences of struggling with body image (both of which Ricky has experienced personally). It's a cathartic journey, and as Ricky tells us in this conversation, one that ultimately points to a direction of hope – a message that seems more and more important in today's world. Recorded at New York's PROTOTYPE Festival in January 2020, Ellen West features soprano Jennifer Zetlan in the title role, baritone Nathan Gunn in multiple roles, The Aeolus Quartet, bass player Evan Premo and pianist Djordje Nesic, conducted by Lidiya Yankovskaya. The album can be found here: https://www.brightshiny.ninja/ellen-wes Visit Ricky Ian Gordon's website at https://www.rickyiangordon.com/

Russian-American conductor Lidiya Yankovskaya is a fiercely committed advocate for Russian masterpieces, operatic rarities, and contemporary works on the leading edge of classical music. She has conducted more than 40 world premieres, including 16 operas, and her strength as a visionary collaborator has guided new perspectives on staged and symphonic repertoire from Carmen and Queen of Spades to Price and Prokofiev. As Music Director of Chicago Opera Theater, Ms. Yankovskaya has led the Chicago premieres of Jake Heggie's Moby-Dick, Rachmaninov's Aleko, Joby Talbot's Everest, Tchaikovsky's Iolanta, and the world premiere of Dan Shore's Freedom Ride. Her daring performances before and amid the pandemic earned recognition from the Chicago Tribune, which praised her as “the very model of how to survive adversity, and also how to thrive in it,” while naming her 2020 Chicagoan of the Year. In the 2021/22 season, Ms. Yankovskaya makes a trio of Texan debuts, leading performances of Carmen at Houston Grand Opera, a tribute to Ruth Bader Ginsburg at Dallas Symphony Orchestra, and concerts featuring works by Gershwin and Dawson at Fort Worth Symphony. Elsewhere, she debuts with Chicago Symphony Orchestra in Prokofiev's Peter and the Wolf, leads a program of Brahms and Wagner at Elgin Symphony, conducts Boulanger, Debussy, and Ravel at Omaha Symphony, and makes her Pasadena Symphony debut conducting works by Tchaikovsky, Rimsky-Korsakov, and Gabriela Lena Frank. At Chicago Opera Theater, she conducts the Chicago premiere of Mark Adamo's Becoming Santa Claus and a concert version of Carmen, starring Jamie Barton opposite Stephanie Blythe. Ms. Yankovskaya has recently conducted Don Giovanni at Seattle Opera, Pia de' Tolomei at Spoleto Festival USA, Il barbiere di Siviglia at Wolf Trap Opera, Ellen West at New York's Prototype Festival, and the world premiere of Taking Up Serpents at Washington National Opera. On the concert stage, she has been recently engaged with Chicago Philharmonic, Rhode Island Philharmonic, and the symphony orchestras of Hawaii and Oviedo, Spain. Ms. Yankovskaya is Founder and Artistic Director of the Refugee Orchestra Project, which proclaims the cultural and societal relevance of refugees through music, and has brought that message to hundreds of thousands of listeners around the world. In addition to a National Sawdust residency in Brooklyn, ROP has performed in London, Boston, Washington, D.C., and the United Nations. She has also served as Artistic Director of the Boston New Music Festival and Juventas New Music Ensemble, which was the recipient of multiple NEA grants and National Opera Association Awards under her leadership. As Music Director of Harvard's Lowell House Opera, Ms. Yankovskaya conducted sold-out performances of repertoire rarely heard in Boston, including Tchaikovsky's The Queen of Spades, Britten's A Midsummer Night's Dream, and the U.S. Russian-language premiere of Rimsky-Korsakov's The Snow Maiden. Her commitment to exploring the breadth of symphonic and operatic repertoire has also been demonstrated in performances of Rachmaninoff's Aleko and the American premieres of Donizetti's Pia de' Tolomei, Rubinshteyn's The Demon, and Rimsky-Korsakov's Kashchej The Immortal and Symphony No. 1. An alumna of the Dallas Opera's Hart Institute for Women Conductors and the Taki Alsop Conducting Fellowship, Ms. Yankovskaya has also served as assistant conductor to Lorin Maazel, chorus master of Boston Symphony Orchestra, and conductor of Boston Youth Symphony Orchestra. She has been featured in the League of American Orchestras Bruno Walter National Conductor Preview and Cabrillo Festival for Contemporary Music, and assisted Vladimir Jurowski via a London Philharmonic fellowship. Ms. Yankovskaya holds a B.A. in Music and Philosophy from Vassar College, with a focus on piano, voice, and conducting, and earned an M.M. in Conducting from Boston University. Her conducting teachers and mentors have included Lorin Maazel, Marin Alsop, Kenneth Kiesler, and Ann Howard Jones. Ms. Yankovskaya's belief in the importance of mentorship has fueled the establishment of Chicago Opera Theater's Vanguard Initiative, an investment in new opera that includes a two-year residency for emerging opera composers. Committed to developing the next generation of artistic leaders, she also volunteers with Turn The Spotlight, a foundation dedicated to identifying, nurturing, and empowering leaders – and in turn, to illuminating the path to a more equitable future in the arts. Recipient of Solti Foundation U.S. Career Assistance Awards in 2018 and 2021, Ms. Yankovskaya has been a featured speaker at the League of American Orchestras and Opera America conferences, and served as U.S. Representative to the 2018 World Opera Forum in Madrid.

As a tenor specializing in 21st century repertoire, Jonathan Blalock created over a dozen roles in world premieres with companies including the Dallas Opera, Washington National Opera, the Center for Contemporary Opera, Fort Worth Opera, the PROTOTYPE Festival, and UrbanArias. In 2019, he was featured in the new opera recordings of Paul's Case (by Gregory Spears) and the Grammy Award winning Fantastic Mr. Fox (by Tobias Picker). In concert, Jonathan recently performed with Winston Salem Symphony, Memphis Symphony, Opera Hong Kong, Arizona MusicFest, Wichita Symphony, Pacific Symphony, Syracuse Symphoria, Washington Chorus, and the Guggenheim Museum. A native of Burlington, Blalock earned Master of Music degrees in both vocal performance and choral conducting from UNC Greensboro.  Soprano Kinneret Ely is a freelance opera singer based in New York City and Tel Aviv. She was a young artist with Teatro Grattacielo's Camerata Bardi Vocal Academy in 2021. As part of it, she sang Ilia in IDOMENEO ALLA BREVE at the Rhodes International Festival in September 2021. She covered the roles of Anna in Catalani's LORELEY and the Fata Azzurra in Respighi's LA BELLA DORMENTE NEL BOSCO in Teatro Grattacielo's 25th Anniversary Concert in September 2019. She sang Violetta in LA TRAVIATA in July 2018 at the Jerusalem International Opera Masterclass (JIOM). She rejoined Teatro Grattacielo for their film production of Giordano's FEDORA as Un Piccolo Savoiardo, and covering the role of Dimitri. Her performed roles also include Gilda in RIGOLETTO, Madame Cortese in IL VIAGGIO A REIMS, and Rosina in IL BARBIERE DI SIVIGLIA. She was a semifinalist in the Premiere Opera Foundation + NYIOP International Vocal Competition and Camerata Bardi International Vocal Competition in 2021, and also in the Premiere Opera Foundation + NYIOP International Vocal Competition and the Rochester International Vocal Competition in 2020. Her YouTube channel has more than 38,000 views. She holds a Bachelor of Arts degree in Special Honors from Hunter College, from which she graduated cum laude, designing her own degree there in languages, history, and literature through their Thomas Hunter Honors Program. She studied Italian at the Società Dante Alighieri in Siena, French at the Alliance Française in Paris, German at the Goethe Institut in Berlin, and Russian at the Derzhavin Institute in St. Petersburg.  Kinneret's YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/user/KinneretEly Jonathan's YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/user/jblay100  

Praised as “strikingly original” (NY Times), Kamala Sankaram moves freely between the worlds of experimental music and contemporary opera. Recent commissions include works for the Glimmerglass Festival, Washington National Opera, Houston Grand Opera, the PROTOTYPE Festival, and Creative Time, among others. Known for pushing the boundaries of opera, Kamala's work has included several pieces fusing Indian classical music with the operatic form, the first virtual reality opera, several telematic operas, an opera with live data-mining of the audience, and most recently, a 10-hour opera for the trees of Prospect Park. Music: all decisions will be made by consensus, music by Kamala Sankaram, libretto by Rob Handel, performed by Adrian Rosas, Hai-Ting Chinn, Joan La Barbara, Kamala Sankaram, Paul An, and Zachary James; “Ghosting” from Looking at You, music by Kamala Sankaram, libretto by Rob Handel, performed by Samuel McCoy, Jeff Hudgins, Ed RosenBerg, and Josh Sinton; “Bike” from Looking at You, music by Kamala Sankaram, libretto by Rob Handel, performed by Samuel McCoy, Blythe Gaissert, Brandon Snook, Mila Henry, Jeff Hudgins, Ed RosenBerg, and Josh Sinton Aqua Net & Funyuns podcast Follow Kamala on Instagram and Twitter. kamalasankaram.com Co-hosts: Niloufar Nourbakhsh and Joseph Bohigian Follow us on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter. ensembledecipher.com Contact us at decipherists@ensembledecipher.com. Decipher This! is produced by Joseph Bohigian; intro sounds by Eric Lemmon; outro music toy_3 by Eric Lemmon.

This is the first in a mini-series of episodes where host Tim Cynova in joined by other white male leaders to discuss their personal and professional journeys as their companies engage in the work to become anti-racist organizations. DAVID B. DEVAN (he/him) joined https://www.operaphila.org/ (Opera Philadelphia) in January 2006 and was appointed General Director of the company in 2011. Since his arrival, David has worked closely with board and administration on strategic planning initiatives and building partnerships within the community and the opera world. David guided the company through a transformative period of innovation that led Opera News to describe it as “one of the leading instigators of new work in the country” and the New York Times to describe Opera Philadelphia as "a hotbed of operatic innovation." Under his leadership and artistic vision, Opera Philadelphia has grown to become a company of international stature and a favorite co-producing partner with companies all over the globe, developing fresh productions of classic works as well as premieres written by today's leading composers. The company has engaged and energized both established and emerging artists, providing opportunities for important role debuts for singers like Lawrence Brownlee, Eric Owens, Nathan Gunn, Stephanie Blythe, Christine Goerke, Leah Crocetto, and Lisette Oropesa. As The Daily Beast recently commented, “Opera Philadelphia has been at the forefront of commissioning new operas with contemporary subject matter and an innovative, genre-blending sensibility to snare a younger audience and revitalize opera for the 21st century.” Key achievements include the establishment of the Aurora Series for Chamber Opera at the Perelman Theater, an extremely popular and highly-subscribed opera series at the Kimmel Center's intimate 550-seat Perelman Theater; the establishment of the nation's first ever collaborative Composer in Residence Program with New York partner Music-Theatre Group, a comprehensive program supported by The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, designed to foster the growth of tomorrow's great operatic composers; the creation of the American Repertoire Program in 2011, solidifying Opera Philadelphia's role as a national leader in the creation of new works; and the creation of the site-specific Opera in the City series. Under David's leadership, the company established the annual Festival O in 2017, launching each season with an immersive, 12-day festival featuring multiple operatic happenings in venues throughout the city. Opera Philadelphia also presents additional productions each spring, making it the first U.S. opera company to open a year-round season with a dynamic festival. Under David's leadership, Opera Philadelphia has commissioned or co-commissioned eight new operas, including Charlie Parker's YARDBIRD by Daniel Schnyder and Bridgette Wimberly, and starring Lawrence Brownlee, which has since been staged at The Apollo Theater in New York and Hackney Empire in London; Cold Mountain, based on the best-selling novel by Charles Frazier and written by Jennifer Higdon and Gene Scheer, and co-commissioned with The Santa Fe Opera; and Breaking the Waves by Missy Mazzoli and Royce Vavrek, based on the film by Lars von Trier, which has since been staged at Beth Morrison Projects' PROTOTYPE Festival and was named Best New Opera of 2016 by the Music Critics Association of North America. As immediate past Chair of the Board of Directors for the Greater Philadelphia Cultural Alliance and a member of the Opera America board, David is privileged to serve in a city with rich and diverse cultural roots. He continues to work tirelessly to make opera as an important part of our community. TIM CYNOVA (he/him) wears a multitude of hats, all in service of creating anti-racist workplaces where people can thrive. He is the Principal of the...

[@ 4 min] In ‘Chalk Talk”… The European Football Championships are down to just four teams.  The OBS players, along with special guest maestro Anthony Barrese, pick winners based on the opera prowess of the remaining four countries... [@ 33 min] And then, in the ‘Two Minute Drill'…  Good news from New York: the Prototype Festival is coming back.  And, oh yeah, so is the Met… operaboxscore.com dallasopera.org/tdo_network_show/opera-box-score facebook.com/obschi1 @operaboxscore IG operaboxscore

Erin Rogers is a saxophonist and composer based in New York City. Named a “rising star” (Broadway World), her music has been described as “whimsical, theatrical” (Brooklyn Vegan), “a wild ride” (An Earful), and “so complex, it’s primitive.” (Pittsburgh Post-Gazette). She is co-artistic director of thingNY, Popebama, New Thread Saxophone Quartet, and Hypercube, and has performed with the International Contemporary Ensemble, wildUp, and Talea, at Lincoln Center, Carnegie Hall, Kennedy Center Millennium Stage, the Edmonton Fringe Festival, Resonanzraum (Hamburg), Centro Nacional de las Artes Mexico City, and the Park Avenue Armory. Rogers has been featured on the Ecstatic Music Festival, Prototype Festival, MATA Festival, the Elbphilharmonie’s “Unterdeck”, and NYmusikk Bergen, crossing genres from opera-to-theatre-to-installation-to-silence, through collaborations with Orange Theatre, Panoply Performance Lab, wasteLAnd, Harvestworks, yarn|wire, Experiments-in-Opera, Decoder, Contemporaneous, yarn/wire and Music for Contemplation. She can be heard on New Focus Recordings, New World Records, Edition Wandelweiser, and Gold Bolus labels. Her solo album "Dawntreader” is available on Relative Pitch Records. // erinmrogers.com

Presented in collaboration with the Prototype Festival, Modulation is a ground-breaking exploration of opera and theater adapting to a new format. Audience members are in control as they navigate through a landscape of new musical pieces—each with its own visual component—exploring the strands that weave together our lives over this past tumultuous and revelatory year. With themes of isolation, identity and fear, with the connection of breath, the experience brings together 13 of the most provocative and diverse voices in the contemporary music idiom. In this conversation, we are honored to welcome four of these extraordinary composers, all of whom are Los Angeles natives or based now in Los Angeles. Composer Juhi Bansal welcomes Jojo Abot, Yvette Janine Jackson, and Carmina Escobar. Please note that this conversation delves into contemporary issues and includes adult language which might not be suitable for all listeners. Modulation can be accessed on LA Opera's website until February 28, 2021 at 8:59pm PT: https://www.laopera.org/performances/upcoming-digital-performances/modulation

1. Mason Bates - The (R)evolution of Steve Jobs: Scene 7, That Can Also Be a Ticking Clockhttps://spoti.fi/3nEI1OG2. Pamela Z - Badagadahttps://youtu.be/9_d6UFZZ8ck?t=2433. Errollyn Wallen - Gun Gun Gunhttps://spoti.fi/3kHe4Mb4. Judah Adashi - Risehttps://youtu.be/s2NCPiX3A1MYou can listen to these before or after the episode, or you can pause our podcast and go listen to each piece as we introduce them. Panelists:Bass Robert Ellsworth Feng is acclaimed for having a “commanding darkness and thickness to his tone,” and is a born collaborator who performs with artists of all mediums. Robert is the recipient of the George Woodhead Prize in Voice and the Peabody Career Development Award and placed second in the NY Classical Music Society International Voice Competition. Performance highlights include Don Giovanni (Il Commendatore) with Kor Productions, The Mikado (Ko-Ko) with Hawaii Opera Theatre, Tobias Picker’s Emmeline (Pastor Avery) with Manhattan School of Music, and more. Robert has premiered new works including Tony Small’s Qadar and Nick Peros’ Lamentation of Ruin. During quarantine, Robert performed in Social Distance Opera's production of Street Scene as Henry Davis, with Seagle Music Colony, and was a featured artist for Tony Small's Virtual Masterclass series for the Boys & Girls Club of Greater Washington. Robert received his Bachelors at Peabody, his Masters at Manhattan School of Music, and is an alumni of Seagle Music Colony. Robert is also a proud member of the Hawaii Opera Theatre Mae Z. Orvis Opera Studio.Taylor-Alexis DuPont is a young and engaging Mezzo-Soprano from Orlando, Florida. Since graduating with her Masters in Voice from the Peabody Conservatory while studying with Denyce Graves, Taylor-Alexis has performed with the Metropolitan Opera, the Ising International Young Artist Festival in Beijing and Suzhou, China, the Glimmerglass Festival, Prototype Festival, Sarasota Opera, St. Petersburg Opera, Opera Orlando, First Coast Opera, Christman Opera and City Lyric Opera. Performance highlights include Cendrillion (Prince Charmant), Così fan tutte (Dorabella), Ruslan and Ludmilla (Prince Ratmir), The Snow Maiden (Lel) and Pinocchio (Pinocchio). Earlier this year Taylor-Alexis performed as an ensemble member and soloist cover in the Metropolitan Opera’s wildly successful production of Porgy and Bess and made her debut with Heartbeat Opera in a new work titled Lady M. Taylor-Alexis is currently working with the Florentine Opera as a Baumgartner studio artist for the 2020-2021 season.Praised for her “vocal control and exquisite refinement,” soprano Teresa Ferrara is dedicated to music’s power to transcend social divides and inspire people of all ages and backgrounds. She has performed as a solo vocalist at the Kennedy Center and her chorus work has allowed her to perform often with the National Symphony Orchestra. She has earned many awards for her singing, including the George Woodhead Prize in Voice from the Peabody Conservatory, the Award for Excellence in the Arts from the National Society of Arts and Letters, and The Washington Post Music and Dance Scholarship Award. Ms. Ferrara has performed repeatedly with Maryland Lyric Opera, Baltimore Musicales, and the IN Series. Notable opera credits include Mozart’s Le Nozze di Figaro (Countess Almaviva) and Così fan tutte (Despina), as well as Donizetti’s L’Elisir d’Amore (Giannetta), Massenet's Chérubin (L'Ensoleillad), and Viva V.E.R.D.I. - The Promised End, (Soprano). A graduate of the Master of Music program at Peabody, she plans to continue to pursue musical endeavors that stretch the norms of classical music and seek to educate and serve the community.

Ricky Ian Gordon is without a doubt one of our greatest living composers for the human voice. His songs have been performed and recorded by many star singers (including Renée Fleming and Audra McDonald); his musical theater works and operas have been heard on progressive stages across the country, and he's been consistently recognized for his unique musical style – which blends a lyric romanticism with dramatic modernism to brightly illuminate the texts and poems that inspire him.In his new opera Ellen West, Ricky sets the poem of that name by Pulitzer Prize-winning poet Frank Bidart to effect a stunning portrayal of the woman who was the earliest documented case of anorexia nervosa (and who eventually committed suicide). The opera deals with loss and the devastating consequences of struggling with body image (both of which Ricky has experienced personally). It's a cathartic journey, and as Ricky tells us in this conversation, one that ultimately points to a direction of hope – a message that seems more and more important in today's world.Recorded at New York's PROTOTYPE Festival in January 2020, Ellen West features soprano Jennifer Zetlan in the title role, baritone Nathan Gunn in multiple roles, The Aeolus Quartet, bass player Evan Premo and pianist Djordje Nesic, conducted by Lidiya Yankovskaya. The album can be found here: https://www.brightshiny.ninja/ellen-wesVisit Ricky Ian Gordon's website at https://www.rickyiangordon.com/

Ricky Ian Gordon is without a doubt one of our greatest living composers for the human voice. His songs have been performed and recorded by many star singers (including Renée Fleming and Audra McDonald); his musical theater works and operas have been heard on progressive stages across the country, and he's been consistently recognized for his unique musical style – which blends a lyric romanticism with dramatic modernism to brightly illuminate the texts and poems that inspire him. In his new opera Ellen West, Ricky sets the poem of that name by Pulitzer Prize-winning poet Frank Bidart to effect a stunning portrayal of the woman who was the earliest documented case of anorexia nervosa (and who eventually committed suicide). The opera deals with loss and the devastating consequences of struggling with body image (both of which Ricky has experienced personally). It's a cathartic journey, and as Ricky tells us in this conversation, one that ultimately points to a direction of hope – a message that seems more and more important in today's world. Recorded at New York's PROTOTYPE Festival in January 2020, Ellen West features soprano Jennifer Zetlan in the title role, baritone Nathan Gunn in multiple roles, The Aeolus Quartet, bass player Evan Premo and pianist Djordje Nesic, conducted by Lidiya Yankovskaya. The album can be found here: https://www.brightshiny.ninja/ellen-wes Visit Ricky Ian Gordon's website at https://www.rickyiangordon.com/

Ruth Margraff and Kamala Sankaram's opera, LOST MUSIC FROM THE HEART OF EVERYTHING (a suffrage aria for Amelia Himes Walker), will be available to view virtually through the end of September. For more information, visit https://burningcoal.org/ (Burning Coal Theatre’s website) or https://www.ncopera.org/ (North Carolina Opera). About the Guests Ruth Margraff wrote 6 critically acclaimed martial arts operas with the late composer Fred Ho for the Apollo, Guggenheim Museum, LaMama, and the Brooklyn Academy of Music. Her recent writing includes: Mirror Butterfly her jazz opera for climate refugees with Afro Yaqui Music Collective at New Hazlett Theater (Pittsburgh), Kennedy Center Millenium Stage (DC), National Ensemble Theater plenary (Tucson), 1st Mesopotamian Water Forum (Kurdistan, Iraq), and released on Innova Records at Red Rooster/Ginny’s and the National Jazz Museum (Harlem); Temptation of the Fresh Voluptuous for the Nisville Jazz Teatrski Festival (Serbia), Red Tape/Art Institute Ballroom (Chicago), Coe Marquis Series Sinclair Stage (Iowa); and haiku for Bella Gaia with NASA holographic imagery. With her Café Antarsia Ensemble she wrote Previously Blue, Three Graces, Wellspring, Judges 19: Black Lung Exhaling which have toured all over the US and internationally. Ruth has received awards from Rockefeller, McKnight, NEA, and Fulbright foundations, etc. She is a tenured Professor at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago. https://bakerartist.org/node/23709 (https://bakerartist.org/node/23709)  Kamala Sankaram, composer, has received commissions from Washington National Opera, Houston Grand Opera, Beth Morrison Projects, the PROTOTYPE Festival, Opera on Tap, Opera Memphis, and the Brooklyn Youth Chorus, among others. She is the recipient of a Jonathan Larson Award from the American Theater Wing.  She is currently working with Opera on Tap and librettist Jerre Dye on The Parksville Murders, the first opera written for virtual reality. Episode 1 is now available on SamsungVR. Her other operas include Taking up Serpents, Thumbprint, Miranda, and The Infinite Energy of Ada Lovelace.  Connect with Us Facebook – @rduonstage Twitter – @rduonstage Instagram – @rduonstage Web http://www.rduonstage.com/ (www.rduonstage.com) Support this podcast

Today's guest, Zachary James brings a wise and insightful approach to crisis. Having experienced different crisis in his personal life. Zachary James: International opera singer, Broadway & TV actor. BWAY/OFF-BWAY: Lurch in The Addams Family (Original Cast), Hassinger in South Pacific (Original Cast), Pasquale in The Most Happy Fella, Jo-Jo in Irma La Douce, Sweeney Todd, Coram Boy, Pirates of Penzance. TV/FILM: 30 Rock, Murphy Brown, The Gift, ESPN Great Outdoor Games, Medici TV, Iowa Public Television, David Letterman, Tony Awards, Macy's Parade, CBS, NBC, PBS, WB, ESPN. OPERA/CONCERT: Metropolitan Opera, English National Opera, New York Philharmonic, Philadelphia Orchestra, NHK Symphony Orchestra Tokyo, Teatro Real, Opera Philadelphia, LA Opera, Arizona Opera, Virginia Opera, Des Moines Metro Opera, Nashville Opera, Opera Theatre of Saint Louis, Opera Roanoke, Anchorage Opera, Central City Opera, Union Avenue Opera, Shreveport Opera, Fort Worth Opera, Opera Ithaca, Knoxville Opera, American Lyric Theatre, Prototype Festival, Phoenicia Festival and more. “Friendships are such a reflection of our own selves and growing with friends is really special.” ~Zachary James Follow Zachary: Instagram: @_zachary_james_ Website: www.ZachJames.com Show Support & Sponsors: Become a Supporter of the Podcast Join me with YogaRenew Teacher Training Looking to use the same sound gear as I do in the show? My Microphone My Mic Preamp My Ring Light Connect with me on Instagram: Rumor_in_StPetersburg --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/theluxuryofselfcare/message Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/theluxuryofselfcare/support

1. Terence Blanchard's "What Makes a Man a Man" from The Champion:https://www.facebook.com/SmithsonianNationalPostalMuseum/videos/10154947576381054/ (at 32:50)2. Julia Wolfe's Fire in my mouth: III. Protesthttps://open.spotify.com/album/6ko1tkGEWoWUx6xt3u9g9D3. Kirsten Childs' Big Booty Tupelo Gal from Bella: An American Tall Tale https://open.spotify.com/album/3kbplywvgcmfNJsYYYyKEg4. Laura Elise Schwendinger's The Artist's Musehttps://soundcloud.com/user527919643/01-schwendinger-the-artists-musePanelists:Jarrod Lee bass baritone, hails from Alabama and presently resides in Maryland. He has received rave reviews from Maryland Theatre, Opera News, and The Washington Post. Last season Jarrod made a Metropolitan Opera debut as one of the featured soloists in Porgy and Bess and a role debut as the Undertaker in the same opera with Atlanta Opera. Past roles include: Elviro in Tale of Serse with the In Series, Angelotti in Tosca with Annapolis Opera, and Le Bailli in Werther with Opera Delaware. Jarrod has performed in community outreach works commissioned by Washington National Opera called In the Smoke of the Sting and Just out the Window by Tom Minter. Jarrod has been a finalist in the Annapolis Opera, Harlem Opera Theater Vocal Competitions and a semifinalist in Austria’s Meistersinger. In new works, Jarrod premiered the roles Levi in Cloud Nebula by Scott Patterson with Afro House Baltimore, and Joe Louis in Shadowboxer by Frank Proto with the Maryland Opera Studio. As a librettist, Jarrod’s work aims to contribute in the canon of stories by Black Americans which are rarely seen on the operatic stage. JarrodLee.comFrances Pollock‘s music is inspired by a variety of artists including Missy Elliot, Dolly Parton, Whitney Houston, Joni Mitchell, Stephen Sondheim, Beyonce, Julia Wolfe, and Billy Joel. She has written operas for Washington National Opera, the PROTOTYPE Festival, Chicago Lyric, Seattle Opera and American Opera Projects. Her opera, Stinney (Co-librettist Tia Price), won the “Best of Baltimore” award in 2015 and was programmed at the 2019 PROTOTYPE Festival. Her opera “Earth to Kenzie” (librettist Jessica Murphy Moo) is currently touring with both Chicago Lyric and Seattle Opera in the 2019-2020 season. Frances is a founding member of the new music non-profit, Prima Volta. When she is not writing music, she is singing in choirs, cooking dinner for friends and family, exploring New Haven, running with her wife and best friend, Emily, and cheering on her favorite minor league baseball team, the Hartford Yard Goats. francespollock.comMelissa Wertheimer is a flutist and piccoloist who specializes in new music. She performs throughout the Baltimore-DC region, and is a core member of Great Noise Ensemble and Occasional Symphony. Melissa melds her passions for music, research, and cultural heritage into a career as an archivist and librarian who shares historic musical documents with all lovers of music. Melissa is a Music Reference Specialist at the Library of Congress, Archivist of the Music Library Association, and board member of Occasional Symphony in Baltimore. She formerly held adjunct faculty positions at the Johns Hopkins University and Howard Community College. Melissa holds a M.L.I.S. in Archives and Digital Curation from the University of Maryland, a M.M. in Piccolo from the Peabody Institute, and a B.M. in Flute from Ithaca College.

Conductor and choral arranger ALEXANDER LLOYD BLAKE is the Founder and Artistic Director of Tonality (www.ourtonality.org), a new choral ensemble focused on spreading a message of unity, peace, and social justice through a culturally diverse choral setting. Blake also serves as the Principal Associate Conductor of the National Children's Chorus (www.nationalchildrenshorus.com), where he conducts both the Los Angeles and New York City branches of the oldest and most experienced singers. Blake’s role will soon include diversity engagement to work toward a more diverse choral membership within the organization. He also serves as the Choir Director at Los Angeles County High School for the Arts (LACHSA) (www.lachsa.net). As an arranger, Blake’s Wade in the Water was a featured arrangement at the North Carolina Music Educators Association convention in 2013 and is published with Santa Barbara Music Publishing. Blake has recently been requested for a commission by the New York City professional ensemble called Inspire to write a work on environmental justice. Blake was recently accepted in the Romano Gandolfi International Choral Conducting Competition in Parma, Italy as one of two conductors from the United States. Other musical activities include an opera conducting premiere at the 2019 Prototype Festival in New York City, and preparing choirs for live performances with UCLA Center for the Art of Performance. Performances include MacArther Fellow Taylor Mac’s 24-Decade History of Popular Music and Holiday Sauce concerts and soon Rachel Fuller’s Animal Requiem and Alex Somers’ Dawson City: Frozen Time Live!Film and TV Credits include singing on the soundtrack of Jordan Peele's "US," Disney’s “Lion King”, and Pixar’s upcoming “Spies in Disguise” film scheduled for release in December 2019. Blake also worked as the choral contractor and vocal arranger for Andy Grammer’s performance at the 2019 ARDYs (Radio Disney Awards).Blake completed the Doctorate in Musical Arts degree at the University of Southern California in 2019. His Master of Music was completed at the University of California Los Angeles in 2014 and Balck completed a Vocal Performance degree at Wake Forest University in 2010. Blake studied conducting at USC with Dr. Jo-Michael Scheibe and Dr. Nick Strimple, he has previously studied with Donald Neuen, Dr. Brian Gorelick, Dr. David Hagy, and Dr. David Connell. He has studied composition with Dr. Dan Locklair and choral arranging with Morten Lauridsen.www.facebook.com/alexanderlloydblakeIG: alexanderlblakeTwitter: @AlexanderLBlakewebsite: www.alexanderlblake.com

The Prototype Festival is a contemporary opera festival in New York CityThe New Opera Showcase is a contemporary opera showcase sponsored by Opera America and Trinity Wall Street CathedralCandillari studied piano in Graz, AustriaOlivier Messiaen is a 20th-century French composerCandillari’s grandmother performed the titular role in Georges Bizet’s Carmen at the Serbian National Theatre in Novi Sad, former Yugoslavia. Candillari was also born in this city, which is the second-largest city in present-day Serbia.La Traviata is a grand opera by Giuseppe VerdiCandillari studied jazz at Jacobs School of Music at Indiana University in Bloomington, INA Hochschule is an institution of higher education within German-speaking countriesAt age six, she became “obsessed” with the operetta Die Csárdásfürstin by Hungarian composer Emmerich KálmánFranz Lehár’s operetta The Merry Widow takes place in the fictional state of Pontevedro, a thinly veiled reference to the real-life principality of Montenegro.David Baker was the Director of Jazz Studies at Indiana University’s Jacobs School of MusicEvans references a concert he saw at Symphony Hall Boston with jazz vibraphonist Gary Burton & Handel and Hayden SocietyCarnegie Hall (New York) and Wigmore Hall (London) are two well-known classical music venuesCandillari became the Head Coach at the Slovene National Theatre in Maribor, SloveniaCosì fan tutte is an opera buffa (a kind of comedic opera) by Wolfgang Amadeus MozartRecitative is a musical style primarily used in baroque and classical vocal music (namely opera and oratorio) that highlights narrative storytelling.Candillari’s husband, Nick Schwartz, is the bass trombonist of the New York City Ballet.Rusalka is an opera by Antonín Dvořák and was programmed as part of Cincinnati Opera’s 2020 season. Evans also references his Symphony No. 7 which was inspired by composer Johannes Brahms.Contemporary opera Fellow Travelers by Gregory Spears references the music of French troubadours of the Middle AgesMusical Composition: Craft and Art is a book by Alan BelkinMind Over Finger is a podcast about music performance.W1A is a British comedy TV showArthur Rubinstein once famously noted, “Don’t practice too much.”Seth MacFarlane, the creator of the adult animated TV series Family Guy, is also a jazz singer.

Lidiya Yankovskaya returns! The highly sought after conductor has already had a whirlwind season with world premieres at the Prototype Festival, Minnesota Opera, and with one of our hometown teams, Chicago Opera Theater. Find out how she juggles it all when she goes ‘Inside the Huddle’ with Oliver and Ashlee... It’s ‘Spring Training for Your Ears’. Over the next few weeks, tune up your familiarity with the comic masterpiece “Albert Herring”. With history hurdles and recording reps, get ready to become the point guard for Team Benjamin Britten... And then… in the Two Minute Drill… #MeToo tenor Vittorio Grigolo wants to... caress your ears? www.facebook.com/obschi1 www.operaboxscore.com @operaboxscore

1. Libby Larsen’s The Birth Project:https://libbylarsen.com/index.php?contentID=241&profileID=1662&startRange=02. Gilda Lyons’ Songs From the F Train:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9uAKuoUrHGc&feature=emb_logo3. Francesco Tristano's A Soft Shell Groove:https://open.spotify.com/track/2HmJC4u4U79EgXlI0yc73EYou can listen to these before or after the episode, or you can pause our podcast and go listen to each piece as we introduce them. Panelists:The vocal pop duo Outcalls has been dubbed the “electronic opera queens” of Baltimore. Led by Britt Olsen-Ecker and Melissa Wimbish, both classically trained musicians, Outcalls creates genre-defying pop music that counters the tired narratives pervading much of today’s popular songs. With compelling live shows that feature melodic and harmonic surprises, their voices can tickle your ear hairs one second and shake your teeth the next. Combining ethereal vocals with robust electronic rhythms, Outcalls has created their own genre: a sort of Baroque operatic indie-pop. Their masterful sopranos fuse into lush harmonies that lilt about energetic beats and linger in your ears long after they're gone. You can listen to Outcalls' music on Spotify, Apple Music, and outcalls.bandcamp.comHailed as a "renaissance woman" by Urbanite Magazine, Britt Olsen-Ecker has taken Baltimore and beyond by storm as a multi-talented performer and photographer. She has photographed over 1,000 faces from portraits to weddings to food all over the world. As a performer, Britt has been hailed by her "impressive" and "captivating" roles on stage both as an actor and singer. She has worked with several companies in Baltimore, including the Acme Corporation and Single Carrot Theatre. She recently appeared in the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra’s production of Hindemith’s “Sancta Susanna” as the maid, under the baton of Maestra Marin Alsop. She brought Libby Larsen’s The Birth Project.In the world-premiere of Josephine with UrbanArias, The Washington Post gushed, “... the afternoon belonged to Melissa Wimbish, who was creating the role of Josephine Baker ... Beautifully prepared, vocally stunning, and theatrically riveting, Wimbish effortlessly held the audience in her hand throughout this one-woman show.” Melissa made her Carnegie Hall solo recital debut as a result of winning the Grand Prize NATS Artist Award. Other career highlights include György Ligeti’s Mysteries of the Macabre with Baltimore Symphony, the world-premiere of Paul’s Case with UrbanArias at the Prototype Festival, and Carmina Burana with Washington Ballet. Melissa brought Gilda Lyons’ Songs From the F Train.More information at pauseandlisten.com. Pause and Listen was created by host John T.K. Scherch and co-creator/marketing manager Michele Mengel Scherch.

This edition of State of the Arts NYC we have Juecheng Chen (singer) and Garrett Fisher (composer) for the opera Blood Moon and then Ricky Ian Gordon (composer) and Emma Griffin (director) for the opera Ellen West on our show. Both operas are apart of the Prototype Festival which starts tonight.

This edition of State of the Arts NYC we have Juecheng Chen (singer) and Garrett Fisher (composer) for the opera Blood Moon and then Ricky Ian Gordon (composer) and Emma Griffin (director) for the opera Ellen West on our show. Both operas are apart of the Prototype Festival which starts tonight.

This edition of State of the Arts NYC we have Juecheng Chen (singer) and Garrett Fisher (composer) for the opera Blood Moon and then Ricky Ian Gordon (composer) and Emma Griffin (director) for the opera Ellen West on our show. Both operas are apart of the Prototype Festival which starts tonight.

The OBS knuckleheads go 'Inside the Huddle' with last year’s Grammy Award winner for Best Classical Vocal Solo album, Lebanese-American tenor Karim Sulayman... In 'Chalk Talk', the hosts handicap the Grammys for later this month, and they tell you how to put your thumb on the scale for the International Opera Awards... In ‘The Two Minute Drill’, the Prototype Festival gets underway and vandalism strikes Bach’s home town... www.facebook.com/OBSCHI1 www.operaboxscore.com www.wnur.org/popup

Jecca Barry, once a performer of avant-garde flute music, is now the Executive Director of Beth Morrison Projects, a pioneering company that is at the forefront of innovation in music and theater. Listen as Jecca discusses her love for new music and opera with Michael in between rehearsals for Madame White Snake in Hong Kong. Check out BMP’s work at: bethmorrisonprojects.org and @bethmorrisonprojectsSupport the show (https://www.patreon.com/countsprojects)

In 'Chalk Talk', George, Oliver and Daina preview the fifth annual Prototype Festival in New York City, which brings the best of new opera-theater and music-theater to the public. Learn more about this unique festival and get our picks on what to watch... Then, our opera 'Pop Quiz' returns to the show. This time, it’s “One of these things is not like the other”. Oliver and Daina team up to take on George’s questions. You can play at home... And of course you get all your opera headlines and our hot takes on them in ‘The Two Minute Drill’... @operaboxscore #operaballs

Season 2 of the OBS begins with a bang! Oliver talks you through the Metropolitan Opera's new production of "The Pearl Fishers", while Giovanna tips you off to the best events at the Prototype Festival opening in New York City this week. Plus, we baptize two new segments: "The Two Minute Drill" and "Monday Evening Quarterback"! And we announce details about our podcast series which starts next week...

Joy. Play. Whimsy. Those are words not often used to describe city planning and the associated public engagement it usually requires. But with its Market Street Prototyping Festival, San Francisco inverted the traditional planning model and turned its main street into a canvas for testing ideas submitted by citizens.

Courtney Love, a famous rock widow and an actor and rock star in her own right, is making a low-key return to performing in the new musical theater piece Kansas City Choir Boy at HERE Arts Center, as part of the Prototype Festival of new opera and musical theater works. The music and lyrics performed in the show are written by Todd Almond, who plays the other leading role in a story that looks back on a relationship, which is permanently ended. New York Times theater critic Charles Isherwood gives his review. Hear a song from the musical:

The year 2013 saw plenty of headline-making moments in classical music. Protesters came to the opening night of the Met, while a stagehands strike cancelled the opening night at Carnegie Hall. There were heated debates over women conductors and some complicated celebrations for Richard Wagner. It was another tough year for some orchestras but a good one for Benjamin Britten fans. In this edition of Conducting Business, three experts talk about the past year: Anne Midgette, classical music critic of the Washington Post; Justin Davidson, classical music and architecture critic for New York magazine; and Heidi Waleson, a classical music critic for the Wall Street Journal. High Points: Anne: In the year that Van Cliburn died, Anne was particularly excited to hear the 22-year-old Russian pianist Daniil Trifonov: “Trifonov is a pianist whom I find totally exciting. I hear a lot of great concerts in the course of a year but I find that Trifonov has something really special and is a really interesting artist and somebody I look forward to hearing again and again.” Justin on Ivan Fischer and the Budapest Festival Orchestra's staging of Mozart’s Marriage of Figaro at the Mostly Mozart Festival: “One of things I really liked about it was it was one of these really portable productions. It was done in a concert hall with the orchestra on stage, no sets, minimal props, costumes that were taken off a clothes rack that was sitting on the stage…With minimal resources they produced one of the most effervescent and inventive productions I’ve seen of that opera. What it said to me is how much you can do with how little.” [Read more of Justin's picks at NYMag.com] Heidi: George Benjamin’s Written on Skin, given its U.S. premiere at Tanglewood in August: “So often you see these new operas and you think, ‘Why did they bother? Why did you turn this movie or this book into an opera?' This was a completely new piece of writing and it had a tension to it from beginning to end. It has a fantastically colorful and intricate orchestration, which includes a solo moment for the viola da gamba." Listen to Written on Skin on Q2 Music   Low Point: The closing of New York City Opera in October after a last-ditch campaign to raise funds for its 2014 season fell through. Anne: “It is not a sign that New York can’t support two opera companies. It is a sign that, due to poor decisions on behalf of the board and a whole sequence of events, this particular thing happened that really didn’t need to happen.” Justin: "One thing that you can take away from that is it is really the product of a classical music and operatic infrastructure that, over the years, got overextended. While we have learned how to expand, trying to do planned shrinkage and figure out how to contract” is tougher for the classical music business. "If you have union contracts and have a season that establishes a kind of baseline, it’s very, very difficult to say ‘we need this to be smaller.’” Heidi: “It was unable to come up with a convincing audience strategy, opera house strategy or even artistic strategy. They did try a few things that I thought were quite interesting – doing for example A Quiet Place, a Leonard Bernstein opera that had never been done in New York… They were in fact trying to reestablish themselves as something that was alternative to the Met, that was a little more forward-looking, and I think it’s really a shame that they couldn’t.” Trends: Anne: The spotlight in 2013 turned to women – women conductors, women composers. “Classical music has proven to have a particularly thick glass ceiling. People are looking at the situation and saying, ‘It’s been years people, why do we still not have very many female conductors on the podium? And when we do, why is it such a big deal?’ There’s still that funny ambivalence about how far we should look at this as a phenomenon and how far we should pretend we’ve all been equal all along.” Justin: The lack of women on major podiums is “a sign of the difficulty that the whole establishment has in adapting at all. What happens is these institutions are very rigid and brittle and when they come up against an obstacle they know that they’re going to splinter and so they avoid the obstacles. It’s a very inflexible set of relationships… Heidi: “The New York Philharmonic seems to be about 50 percent women these days – so why not on the podium?” Justin on the arrival of alternative opera and non-traditional performance venues, as seen in events like the Prototype Festival: “With the cost of real estate in New York, companies are finding cheaper venues and the technology has matured enough so all that you really need is a pretty small room and a fairly minimal investment in machinery to be able to put on a pretty sophisticated multimedia event." Heidi: “There are other organizations doing similar kinds of things: The Gotham Chamber Opera put on a Cavalli opera [Eliogabalo] in a burlesque club... It attracts a different kind of audience. You can break through some of the formality of going to the opera house and sitting in the velvet seat and watching the gold curtain go up."   Surprises: Justin: Caroline Shaw, a 30-year-old New York composer, violinist and singer (right), became the youngest ever winner of the Pulitzer Prize in music for her Partita for 8 Voices (heard at the start of this segment). “It has a quality that almost no contemporary music has, which is joy. It’s something that we’ve forgotten is part of the classical music tradition and an important one.”  Anne: “It’s interesting in that [Shaw] doesn’t even self-identify as a composer but as a violinist. The Pulitzer has been very eager to expand its reach and get outside of the norm of what had been deemed Pulitzer-worthy over the years and I think this is a sign that this is happening.” Heidi on Jeanine Tesori and Lisa Kron’s musical of “Fun Home” at the Public Theater: "I see a lot of new operas, and so many of them are overblown, trying so hard that they feel stillborn. 'Fun Home,' based on Alison Bechdel’s graphic memoir, tells the story of a critical juncture in Alison’s life: she came out as a lesbian in college, and several months later, her father, whom she had just found out was a closeted gay man, killed himself by walking in front of a truck. The piece uses music in the way that you wish these new operas would – to deeply explore feelings in a raw, immediate way." (Note: this "bonus pick" did not make it into the podcast.)   Listen to the full discussion above and tell us: what were your high and low points in classical music in 2013? Photo credits: Shutterstock; Caroline Shaw by Piotr Redliński, 2013